


Demigod Hunters

by JCHaver



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28180971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JCHaver/pseuds/JCHaver
Summary: The war with Gaea had ended. Demigod and Legacy population has never been lower and those left are either tired of war or inexperienced. Camp Half-blood and Camp Jupiter have united the Greek and Roman worlds but suffer limited contact after millennia of fighting and recent destruction. Set right after the events of Heroes of Olympus, Percy and Annabeth return to school in San Francisco. Between school, Roman peace talks, mortal friends, and the brutality of the world they will learn that mortals can be just as deadly monsters, or much worse.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Original Character(s), Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Nico di Angelo/ Will Solace, Percy Jackson & Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: Heroes of Olympus, Percy Jackson





	1. Percy

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson characters, and the world of Percy Jackson belongs to Rick Roirdan. 
> 
> For more on the content of the story check the notes at the bottom.

Percy:

I was sitting in the front seat of Dr. Chase's car, watching as the blue waters of the Pacific ocean beautifully shimmered in the San Francisco September morning. Annabeth was behind her father reading a book on architecture. Given that it was my first day here Dr. Chase insisted that he drive us to school, which was pretty cool of him, even if it meant listening to big plane talk.

You may be asking "why, Percy, why aren't you in New York with your mom?" The answer: after I returned home after a certain goddess (cough Hera cough) abducted me for 8 months it appears that every school in New York had caught wind of my turbulent school history and were no longer accepting. If you are wondering what I mean by turbulent I mean getting expelled from every school I have ever attended. Expulsion was something I was used to and, yeah, it was hard, but getting expelled from the entire state, and those surrounding, was a new low for me. The solution was for me to head to the other side of the country, where no schools knew of me, and attend school with my girlfriend, currently sitting in the back of the car, who was to keep me out of trouble.

If you are wondering about my education history it's on account of me being a demigod. My father is Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Annabeth was also a demigod, specifically Athena's favorite daughter. Demigod's are known to demonstrate difficulty in reading, math, attention, and not avoiding school arson.

The original plan was for me to get my own place but I'm not exactly Midas gold fingers. Dr. and Mrs. Chase were very kind to give me a room at their place, especially considering Mrs. Chase's reluctance to house demigods according to Annabeth. Though, I think that might be the biggest reason why they invited me. I got the feeling that they were trying to prove to Annabeth that they weren't ashamed or scared of having a demigod as a daughter and inviting another one over to stay was their way of saying demigods aren't any trouble. I hoped they were right considering my pension for attracting trouble.

Annabeth still had her job reconstructing Mt. Olympus (yeah, that's her part time job, jealous?) when it was destroyed during the Second Titan War. I happened to have a lovable Hellhound (currently at Camp Jupiter) that could get us to New York in a couple of seconds so the deal was that she let me live with her family and over extended weekends we would visit my parents in New York and she could yell at confused construction workers.

Dr. Chase pulled the car up in front of a two story building with the words 'Cheshmont High' written in faded purple letters over the main entrance. Beneath the high school name were the words 'Home of the Mine Pickers' written in orange. I didn't know what a mine picker was but I figured it was my new school's mascot. Wow, what a terrible mascot.

(A/N The mascot is a combination of some really bad mascots I've had in the past ;D)

I got out of the car just as Dr. Chase was starting to explain the history of nozzle development, and I'm sorry, but I do not have the attention span for that. Annabeth pulled her attention away from architecture as we finally arrived and stashed her book in her bag. She got out of the car and stood next to me. Students were happily chatting to each other as they walked around us.

School started a week ago making me officially late. Annabeth had started on time while I made the move from New York to San Francisco so it was just me causing trouble, again.

I thanked Dr. Chase and Annabeth wished her dad a good day teaching at the college he worked at. With that he drove away and Annabeth and I faced a most daunting challenge in front of us: High School.

Annabeth checked the time, "You better go get your ID and locker assignment. Looks like you'll probably be late for your first class."

"I take it you won't be late to your class by helping the new kid out." I wasn't asking a question. I smiled knowing that to Annabeth, as Athena's daughter, studies were more important than breathing.

"Of course not. I have an attendance record to uphold," she smiled back at me and I couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was.

"Thanks for having my back." I grumbled. She punched me playfully on my arm as a reprimand to my blatant sarcasm. I couldn't help but give a little smile.

"I'm locker 118 if you need me," Annabeth started off towards the east wing of the building. She stopped and looked over her shoulder at me. "Oh, and Percy, try not to blow anything up before lunch."

With that she marched off towards her locker and first class, leaving me at the entrance of my new school.


	2. Kevin

Kevin:

I tapped my fingers anxiously on the desk. I was sitting in my first period English class (which is not my best subject) waiting for it to start. That wasn't why I was nervous.

My name is Kevin Smith. I know, not the most original name but it's the one I've got. I would say that I look average. I have short and straight pale brown hair and brown eyes. I have a medium build that's semi-athletic but it's not like I look like I work out a bunch.

I didn't have friends in this class so I was left to my own thoughts while everyone else talked amongst each other and what I was thinking about was my friend Annabeth Chase.

Friend might not be the right word. More like a serious crush. Last year I had gotten to know her pretty well and over the summer break I had come to the conclusion that I liked her when I wouldn't stop daydreaming about her.

Annabeth's gorgeous with intelligent stormy gray eyes and long curly blond hair. She could probably put fashion models and Hollywood actors to shame if she tried. (On second thought, she does put them to shame even when she isn't trying.) She's ridiculously smart and not just in a school smart way. Like, she's clever and has some serious street smarts. Annabeth's also hard core. It's like nothing can rattle her and she is usually expecting the best from you. She has a no-nonsense personality, but don't let that fool you, she has a sense of humor.

And I decided that I am going to try asking her on a date.

Which is much easier said than done. Annabeth is unbelievably beautiful and cool and that brings in a lot of... competition. I'm weary to say that word because so far nobody has scored any points with her, and in more than just a let down way. It would be easier to give some examples. Last year a senior asked her out, she refused, and when he started arguing with her and grabbed her arm she bent his arm so badly he couldn't go to football practice for two weeks. Another time we were sitting together eating lunch and someone came up to her singing a sonnet. Unfortunately for him, his song hinted a little too much towards blonds and intelligence. He sang soprano running away. Others got death glares if they got too close. One freshman walked up to her very determined but ran away crying when she gave her deluxe distract-me-and-you-shall-perish-look.

Anyway, we got along pretty well as friends, even going to a few school events together. I thought I knew her well enough to ask her out. I knew her dad and little brothers. Her relationship with her family was a touchy subject that you would be wise to stay away from. I knew she had been going to a summer camp for a very long time and loved it dearly (that was all I could get out of that subject). And of course I knew of her love for Architecture. She would not stop talking about it if you got her started.

I also knew that she had a boyfriend that caused her a lot of grief last year. She rarely talked about it and the situation was something along the lines of him being distant and absent. I got the impression he was in something shady when Annabeth once let it slip she didn't know if he was dead or injured or just hopelessly lost. The way she talked about it, it didn't sound like it was going to last. I was glad for that because if he wasn't going to appreciate her, he didn't deserve her. He also didn't sound like a good influence and more of a trouble maker. I thought it was weird that Annabeth, who was a prime and straight laced student, liked him. I was suspicious of a break up when last week she returned in higher spirits than I had seen her in a long time.

Class went on and I didn't bother listening. I figured I would learn it on my own. I just watched the hands on the clock tick by, trying to think about how I was going to ask Annabeth out.

I took a deep breath when the bell rang and gathered up my stuff. I exited the room with a stream of other students, making my way towards my locker. I jumped when hands unexpectedly shot up and grabbed my shoulders.

"He's so hot!" a short girl pronounced to me in exasperation. Her name was Shelly Stetan and she thought of herself as Hollywood's next greatest talent scout. She was short (as stated), Hispanic, usually wore her brown hair in pigtails, and was highly perceptive.

I held up a hand as my brain pieced together what was happening. "Back up, you're going to have to explain."

Tristan McCane came up behind her. He was a good player on the soccer team but he often skipped hanging out with his pack like teammates to chill with Shelly, Annabeth, and me. He was slightly taller than average with strawberry blonde hair, brilliant green eyes, and a round face which always looked bored. Apparently all of his ancestors were Scottish until his great grandfather who was Japanese but you had to look very closely to see any of those traits.

"She's been like this since before first period started," Tristan explained. "She saw some guy go into the office and has been hyperventilating about it ever since. Wouldn't stop annoying me through Spanish, saying, 'he must be an angel sent from heaven with his looks.'"

Tristan did a quick funny pose with his head and eyes pointed up to the ceiling, his hands clasped together, and his heel popping in a bad interpretation of a stereotypical princess. He dropped it and looked back at me with his usual look of disinterest, rolling his eyes. Shelly gave him a pouty face.

"Ahhh, she was over exaggerating again," I concluded, which, in my defense, she was dramatic and liked to exaggerate. Shelly's pouty face turned into a frown in my direction. Surprisingly Tristan had a mild look of surprise on his face.

"No, he's hot," Tristan said very seriously, to which I gave him a quizzical look. "Shelly pointed him out when he walked past the door. He looks new here. Black hair, brooding expression, strong jawline, lean, tall, tan, he's the full package."

"You didn't even see his eyes," Shelly continued very excited. "They were green, like the color of the sea on a tropical island, where you can just see the sand through the water."

"I'd stay away from him, Shelly. If he's really that good looking, though that has to be impossible, professional talent scouts might be trying to get to you," I joked. Just then the two minute warning bell rang. Time to get to class.

We went our separate ways but I turned around when Shelly at the end of the hall loudly pronounced through the swarm of students, "He will be mine! Nobody shall scout that stud like that while I'm around! Hollywood talent management here I come!"

I both smiled and blushed to myself. Shelly was an eccentric friend but a fun one nonetheless.


	3. Tristan

Tristan:

It wasn't impossible.

I had barely made it to my Algebra 2 class on time thanks to Shelly's enthusiasm that was somewhere between fangirling and a pre-occupational hazard. While our teacher was busy collecting homework someone knocked gently on the door. Ms. Behave (no, I'm not joking) was so startled she nearly lost the stack of assignments she had collected. A student was standing in the doorway looking confused and slightly embarrassed.

It was the guy Shelly had pointed out to me earlier and I have to say she might have down played this guy's looks. Sure he was handsome but he also had this aura of power and nobility around him. He didn't look scary but he was intimidating. His presence made me sure everything would be alright with him around and that he was someone I wasn't going to mess with.

Kevin was wrong, this guy did have impossibly good looks and I could hear the murmurs around the class agree.

"Oh, uh, sorry," in a couple of seconds the new kid went from an impressive display of might to just completely confused and overly polite.

"No, no. What do you need?" Ms. Behave quickly tried to regain her poise.

"I'm, uh, new here and my schedule has me in the class next door with Mr. Davis," the new guy explained. "But I didn't see anyone and I was hoping you might be able to help."

"Oh, yes, of course. Mr. Davis's class was joined with mine," Ms. Behave shuffled through the papers and brought one sheet to the top of her small pile. She scanned the sheet for a minute. "Mr... Jackson?"

"Yes," the new guy, Jackson, said, looking relieved and he gave a small lopsided trouble-maker smile. I heard some giggles in the back.

"Well you can go ahead and take a seat," Ms. Behave said expectantly.

"Oh!" Jackson slid into the closest empty desk to him which happened to be right next to mine.

"We'll talk about make-up work after class," Ms. Behave said nicely.

"Right, uh, thank you," Jackson said politely but I noticed a slight grimace at the words 'make-up work.'

"As for the rest of you, homework is still due today," Ms. Behave continued around the class collecting homework. "Mr. McCane please help him if he has any questions." She indicated towards the new kid.

In case it wasn't clear, I was pretty intimidated by this guy despite him looking around cluelessly for whomever was supposed to be helping him. I reached out a hand to get his attention.

"Tristan McCane," I introduced myself. "Tristan's fine."

"Percy," he gave me a little smile and shook my hand. "So, um, what's the teacher's name?"

I realized that she hadn't introduced herself. I smiled slightly too, "Ms. Behave."

Percy raised an eyebrow at that, "seriously?"

"Seriously, Behave," I said with a straight face. At that we both cracked massive grins and tried to muffle our laughter.

"Is everything okay over there, boys?" Ms. Behave asked across the room as if she knew exactly what we were talking about.

"Yes, ma'am," we both said at the same time. Percy looked like he was trying to keep a straight face and was trying not to look Ms. Behave in the eye. Watching him so obviously nervous over Ms. Behave and his sense of humor, Percy didn't seem intimidating anymore.

"You know she's actually a decent and fair teacher," I tried to reassure him, hopping I hadn't over stepped. He just gave me a little smile.

"Yeah, I have a... rocky relationship with schools and teachers," he said that like 'rocky' barely covered it. "I'm trying not to give them trouble."

"Hmmm, probably shouldn't have started school a week late then," I observed.

"I just moved from New York. It was kind of last minute," Percy explained.

A stack of worksheets was being passed around the room. We were interrupted when a girl, who I know is shallow, needlessly walked all the way up the row to hand Percy the stack of paper. She gave Percy a brilliant smile placing herself clearly in his line of sight.

"Hi," she said in a flirtatious voice.

"Thank you," Percy said with a small nod, otherwise completely ignoring her. She walked back to her seat and upon her return there was a large amount of chatter and giggling. Percy didn't seem to notice anything. I was thinking that I was going to like Percy.

"So, you're from New York. That's a long move. Did your family get a better job in San Francisco," I asked.

"Nah, my family's still in New York. Let's just say that things are complicated for me back home," he seemed embarrassed talking about it.

"Still, that's a long way to move. Why hear?" I pressed, talking to Percy was nice. He was easy to talk to and wasn't arrogant or prideful.

"I have some friends in the San Francisco area. It was honestly the best place for me," Percy answered with a lopsided smile. "My girlfriend also lives here."

That was going to break some hearts. I laughed to myself.

The rest of the class was uneventful aside from learning that Percy was really not the scholarly type. We worked together and joked around. He had a sense of humor made out of sass and sarcasm. His personality was easy to get along with and laid back, though I could also tell he had a large sense of justice. With his troublemaker good looks, easy going personality, and dry sense of humor I could believe he had a problem with authority. I really liked him. By the end of the class I was almost jealous of his girlfriend. Which reminded me...

"You said your girlfriend was in San Francisco," I remembered. "Does she go to this school?"

"Yeah," Percy sounded pretty excited about that. He shot me an inquisitive side eye, "Annabeth Chase?"

I was putting my Algebra textbook in my backpack but was so surprised that I completely missed.

"Annabeth Chase?!" I repeated loudly, my mouth hanging slightly open and my eyebrows as high up as they would go.

I said it too loudly. The class stopped packing to look at us though went back to what they were doing relatively quickly. Percy gave me an odd look, his eyebrows furrowed together.

"Yeah?" was his only response. "Is that something weird?"

"No, I guess it explains some things though," I answered, still not sure I believed him. It did explain why Annabeth never looked at another guy. I had heard Annabeth had a boyfriend but I thought it wasn't going well and he was a jerk given how heart broken she seemed last year. I thought he would be some possessive pompous elite mathlete with a superiority complex. I wasn't expecting Percy Jackson and I wasn't so sure about what I thought about him knowing he was that boyfriend.

"Do you know Annabeth?" he asked.

"I hang out with her from time to time," I said, a little hurt that Annabeth hadn't mentioned me to her supposed boyfriend.

Percy looked a little confused but seemed to get over it pretty quickly. I had put him on guard. "Um, okay."

I resigned to have a talk to Annabeth over whether or not he was her boyfriend. I wasn't a possessive friend but I liked Annabeth and wanted to keep her safe and happy. In order to do that I needed to know some things, not that I was planning to do anything sudden.

I postponed judgment on Percy until I talked to her. For now I was going to try to treat him nice. I liked him but I also figured that intimidating look he had before wasn't just for show.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around?" Percy asked carefully.

"Right, see you around," I left him to talk to Me. Behave. I hurried down the hall ducking and dodging hungry students that just got out of class. Lunch was next and I was still in shock. I needed to talk to my most trusted friend.


	4. Shelly

Shelly:

"What!? He was in your last class?" I loudly exclaimed. Tristan had found me at my locker where he gave me some interesting news. He was uncharacteristically energetic, especially since this was about me, my future as a talent scout, and my first muse.

"Yeah his names Percy Jackson but-"

I cut him off scavenging for a notebook. I needed to write down what he was saying.

"You did good trouper!" I pronounced. "Now how tall would you say he is?"

"Around six foot but-"

"Great! Are his eyes actually sea green?"

"Yes, but-"

"Describe the dimensions of his eyebrows-"

"He's Annabeth's boyfriend!"

That stopped my pencil pretty quickly.

"What..." I almost whispered.

"He said he moved here from New York and his girlfriend was Annabeth," he quickly explained.

"Awww," I said downcast. So much for my candidate for stardom-in-modeling. I had heard a little from Annabeth and her boyfriend was awful. According to her, he was never around and had caused her some serious teary breakdowns after class when no one else was looking. Honestly, I was surprised she hadn't dumped him already.

A thought jumped into my mind. He could be possessive and have moved from New York so she couldn't break up with him. It didn't matter. If that jerk was the same guy as my scouted good-looker I didn't want anything to do with him, no matter how pretty he was.

"But that's just the thing," Tristan continued as if he read my thoughts. "Ms. Behave had me helping him as the new student and he was nice. "

That surprised me even more, "what, seriously?"

"Seriously," Tristan confirmed. Tristan wasn't one to make stuff up or lie, ever.

"I figured I'd talk to Annabeth," he continued. "Maybe we, I don't know, jumped to a conclusion without knowing everything."

"Tristan, you heard Annabeth. Her boyfriend was gone," I gave him a stricted look while placing my notebook back into my locker. I wasn't very well about to let Annabeth stay in a relationship that was toxic. I thought Tristan would agree but he sounded like he was defending this Percy Jackson. So I pressed, "We should be supporting Annabeth, not making her think this sort of relationship has some merit."

"I know! But we never heard the whole story! We didn't even know he lived in New York. Maybe he isn't what we thought," Tristan pressed. "What if he turns out to be an amazing guy? If he is nice wouldn't you rather get to know him?"

I considered that. I didn't make it a habit to make enemies.

"And trust me, he doesn't seem like the type of guy you'd want as your enemy," he continued.

That made me nervous. Was this guy violent or something? Still...

"Okay, let's talk to Annabeth first and get her take. She's the smartest person I know, I don't want to think she would stay in a toxic relationship. And, I want to meet this guy and get a gauge of him myself. We'll see if he's really going to be a problem," I yielded.

Tristan nodded grimly. "And if he does turn out to be an ass?"

"I don't know. But if he does turn out to be nice..." I gave my most mischievous grin, pulled out my notebook, and held it up. "I'm going to have exclusive access."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wanted to talk to Kevin first. Tristan, Kevin, and I were the three that knew about Annabeth's boyfriend, I figured it would be a good idea to include him. Tristan, however, pointed out that we should try talking to Annabeth without Percy Jackson around and now was the best time before Ms. Behave (hehe) released him. So we went to find Annabeth.

As it turns out Kevin and Annabeth were both at her locker. Kevin looked like he was trying to invite her out for coffee at a new place that opened up a few blocks away.

"Sorry Kevin," Annabeth said as she stuffed her AP Calculus textbook into her locker. "I'm really busy today."

"We think we know what you're busy with, Annabeth," I said as we walked up to them.

Annabeth gave us a glance that said 'explain.' I obliged.

"Tristan here met your boyfriend," I said. Not surprisingly it was Kevin who responded.

"Wait, what? Seriously?" he looked concerned, not that I blamed him. I myself was concerned about this whole situation.

"Oh, that's nice," Annabeth replied flatly, busy copying down a homework assignment. I wasn't exactly sure what I was expecting but it wasn't that.

"Annabeth?" Kevin said with concern. "Isn't this the guy you were so upset with all last year? Didn't you say he wasn't ever around?"

"Well, yeah but that wasn't his fault," Annabeth said not looking up from the book she was skimming. Kevin looked dissatisfied with that answer. I, again, agreed.

She wasn't going to make this easy. I shot a look at Kevin telling him that I would handle this. Kevin got the message and let me lead.

"Annabeth, would you put down the book? We're worried about you," I said. Annabeth sighed but obliged and closed her book, giving us her entire attention.

"Okay, you got my attention," She said. "What are you so worried about?"

"Your boyfriend," I began. "So just to be clear Percy Jackson is your boyfriend?"

"Yes," Annabeth replied simply. Kevin looked a little more upset.

"And he is the same guy you were dating last year, right?" I continued.

"Yes."

"And he just moved here from New York?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said, this time with interest. Not surprising, that was a pretty personal detail.

"And you did say that he was absent all last year, right?" I pressed. I was waiting for Annabeth to get invested enough to ask me a question. I needed her to be involved but I wanted her to initiate it.

"Well, not exactly. It isn't that simple," she replied slightly annoyed. "What is this about?"

Bingo.

"We're worried about how healthy this relationship is." I laid it out. "Last year you were pretty bent out of shape over him. You made him sound like a jerk who wouldn't give you the time of day. We're also worried that he might be possessive."

"And, remember, I've met him," Tristan pitched in. "He was seriously intimidating. I wouldn't want to get in a fight with him."

"We're just worried about you and whether you might be in trouble," I concluded. "We can't tell you not to be involved with people like him but we want to know the whole story so we can be there for you."

Annabeth closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She had the smallest smile, like she was laughing at herself for not seeing this coming.

"Okay, I think I understand," Annabeth said. "First of all, Percy is a very nice and sweet guy. Tristan, you said you met him. You must have talked to him to know he's from New York. Did he seem arrogant, possessive, or mean in any way?"

"Well, no," Tristan answered honestly. "But he is intimidating."

"Not surprised by that," Annabeth muttered. "Okay, but that doesn't mean he's a bad guy right?"

"No," Tristan answered her. Annabeth had taken control of the conversation and was reasoning us through.

"Last year his family made it really hard on him," Annabeth explained. "Because of it he wasn't able to be there for me, but it wasn't his fault. I was just upset because of the circumstances. Anything I said was probably irrational emotion talk."

"Okay, what circumstances," Kevin asked, a little agitated.

"That's not something I can tell you," Annabeth said in a strict voice, it was obviously very personal and we didn't have the right to know. "If you guys are so worried about Percy's character go ahead and spend some time with him. He'll probably be here soon. He's a nice guy, I promise."

Kevin didn't look convinced. Tristan, on the other hand, seemed content with that explanation. I was on the fence. I believed Annabeth but I also knew she wasn't telling us the whole truth. Not to mention that Annabeth wasn't the irrational emotional type. I wanted to meet Percy myself and then judge.

"Okay, I'll drop it after two more questions," I said, attempting to alleviate any tension.

"Shoot."

"Your feelings have nothing to do with how obviously gorgeous he is, right?" I asked. Annabeth laughed.

"No, and the other question?" I held up my notebook and tapped it. Annabeth laughed again, understanding what I was wordlessly getting at.

"You'll have to ask him about that," she said and went back to her book. "Though, his talents probably aren't suited to Hollywood."

Kevin looked confused and angry. I figured I should get him into the loop. After all, he was the only person who hadn't seen Percy Jackson.

I shot Tristan a look. He got the message.

"Come on Kevin," he said. "I need to go to my locker and you're coming with me."

It was a painfully obvious excuse but it did the trick. I silently thanked God that Tristan was so astute. Tristan's locker was a little down the hall. Far enough that he could talk to Kevin about Percy without us over hearing but close enough that he could see Percy. I, meanwhile, would stay here with Annabeth for a chance to meet this Percy Jackson.

We waited for five minutes. Kevin and Tristan must have been determined too 'cause they were waiting just down the hall. I was wondering if he was going to show up when he came walking down the hall.

He was just as good looking as when I first saw him. I saw some students track his movements and Kevin's jaw dropped.

He walked straight up to us. Annabeth stopped reading her book and flashed him a smile. He smiled back.

"Hey," he greeted us.

"You've stayed out of trouble, right?" Annabeth asked.

"Trying to," he responded. I cleared my throat.

"Percy, this is Shelly Stetan," Annabeth introduced me. "And, Shelly this is Percy Jackson."

"I've heard a lot about you Percy," I said, sticking out my hand and giving him a small smile. He gave me a lopsided smile and shook my hand.

"Am I sure I want to know what you know about me?" he asked.

"She, Tristan, you already met him I heard, and someone named Kevin was here for me last year after that... uh... debacle with your aunt," Annabeth explained. I didn't know what they were talking about but Percy seemed to catch on.

"Right, the debacle," Percy grumbled. Whatever 'the debacle' was Percy clearly wasn't too happy about it.

"They were concerned that you were, uh, trouble," she looked at me pointedly. Suddenly I felt guilty.

Percy laughed. "To be fair I am trouble." He smiled at me, "I'm glad Annabeth has good friends in San Francisco who care about her so much."

I swelled with pride at the complement. Tristan and Annabeth were right, Percy was a cool guy.

"Okay, I give, but you have one more person to convince," I said with a smile. "I bet Annabeth wants to go back to reading so I'll introduce you."

He laughed again and beckoned me to lead them down the hall. Annabeth walked and read at the same time. I noticed that Percy naturally guided her so she wouldn't run into lockers or students walking past. Given how hard she made it to get close to her it was surprising, she followed his touch and had complete faith that he wouldn't let her run into anything. Their body language said this wasn't the first time. There was obviously a lot of trust and respect in their relationship. I smiled to myself, glad I misjudged Percy.


	5. Annabeth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this next chapter has some physics mixed into it. It's italicized and bolded if you just want to skip it (it's not doing anything for the story other than saying that Annabeth is smart).
> 
> If you are studying for physics or have an interest, don't worry, everything is correct so have fun with a brief overview of Kinematics and Forces. It's about College Physics 1 level.

**Annabeth:**

I hadn't realized my mortal friends had taken my anger last year as Percy being a neglectful jerk. In hindsight, I guess it really had come across as that considering I hadn't explained that the Queen of the Greek gods, who doesn't exist in their minds, kidnapped my boyfriend and transferred him unwillingly in a Greek-Roman demigod exchange program. To be fair, if I had told them the whole truth they would have placed me in a mental institution for my own good.

I was thinking of this while walking down the hall and reading my Physics textbook.

**_"_ _Distance, velocity, and acceleration are all vectors meaning that they have a direction and a magnitude. Let us explain that in terms of distance (r). 25 meters is a distance and represents the magnitude. As for units, this book will stick to the international system of units (meters, liters, seconds)._ _"_ **

In reality I had been angry at Percy, not that any of it was his fault, but it still hurt that he hadn't been there. My mom was a Greek goddess who wouldn't give me the time of day. My father and step-mother had practically disowned me by the time I was seven. I found a new family with Luke and Thalia, but that had been torn apart almost immediately when Thalia died. I've had to deal with multiple friends dying over the years: Beckendorf, Selina, Lee Fletcher, Micheal Yew, Castor, and so many more. Worse still, Luke, who had been growing distant from me, ended up completely abandoning me for Kronos. Over the course of four years he had imprisoned me, threatened me, blamed me, hurt me, and tried to kill everyone I had ever cared about. To top it off he ended up dying right after betraying Kronos for us.

**_"The direction tells us how far in the x direction you went and how far in the y direction you went. Diagonally and straight you walked 25 meters. If the angle a = 45° then you would walk about 18 meters up (in the y direction) and another 18 meters horizontally (x direction) before you reached your final destination 25 meters away from where you started. Mathematically:_ **

**_So magnitude is the length of the arrow while direction tells us how much of that was traveled in the x direction or the y direction."_ **

And then there was Percy. When I first met him he had been unimpressive. My first impression was he was sweet, confused, and annoying. When he turned out to be a son of Poseidon, my mother's rival, I was not interested in knowing him, much less liking him as a friend. No way that was going to work out. Percy wasn't having any of that though. He took the time to make an actual relationship with me and didn't care about our parents. When we went on hopeless quests together I started having feelings for him, which was super irrational since, in addition to our parents rivalry, I also knew what the Great Prophecy said. It practically destroyed his chances of surviving past sixteen, which weren't all that great to begin with considering the high mortality rate of children of the big three. Being friends with him was like holding a ticking time bomb and I didn't know when it would go off. Percy could die at any moment but I couldn't help but get close to him, and I really wanted to love him. He helped fix every broken relationship in my life. I reconnected with my family on his suggestion, Thalia was brought back to life because of a quest we did together, and he was there when Luke died. He has always been there for me.

 _" **A force**_ **_is any interaction that, when unopposed, will change the motion of an object. There are technically four known true forces in the universe:_ **

**_ Gravity _ **

**_ Electromagnetism _ **

**_Strong Nuclear Forces_ **

**_Weak Nuclear Forces_ **

**_We only care about the first two"_ **

Feelings aside, it wasn't like I could wait to see if he made it past sixteen on account of girl drama with Rachel Dare. To top it off, Percy was absolutely clueless. So, when he miraculously survived the Great Prophecy it was the first time someone was supposed to leave me but didn't. I can't begin to explain how happy I had been when we started dating. I thought that maybe things were changing and, no matter what happened, I had Percy. I dared to believe that and let my guard down.

**_"_ _Every other force that we look at is a response to either gravity or electromagnetism. That's where Newton's Three laws of motion come into play._ **

**_1\. The first law of motion states that an object can neither move or stop moving unless a force is applied. An example of this would be a ball tossed straight up into the air. You apply a force to the ball upwards which causes the ball to move upwards while gravity pulls the ball back down. The ball would not move unless you apply a force upward and it would continue flying upward if there was no gravity to pull it down._ _"_ **

When Hera took him I felt so empty and hurt. It re-opened every feeling of abandonment I had ever felt. For the first time in four years he wasn't there for me. I was murderously furious with Hera and I was angry with Percy for not being there. It felt like I had been abandoned again.

**_2\. "_ _Force = mass * acceleration. This means a force is acting on an object so long as it is either accelerating or decelerating. In the case of gravity there is a force driving us into the ground. Obviously we aren't falling through the ground. This is because the ground is resisting the force due to gravity with an equal and opposite force._ **

**_3\. For every force there is an equal and opposite force. This means that if I throw a ball as much as my hand is throwing the ball, the ball is also 'throwing my hand.' As much as I am pushing on a wall the wall is also pushing on me. If I am in an ice rink and I push someone away from me, both of us move backwards._ _"_ **

I never held it against him and I never blamed him. I loved him more than ever when I got him back in New Rome. And when he chose to fall into Tartarus with me, for the sole reason that he wasn't ever going to leave me again for any reason, I believed again that I wasn't going to be abandoned. I loved Percy more than I had ever loved anything or anyone else and I knew that was never going to change. I wasn't going to let anything happen to him ever again.

**_"Distance, velocity, and acceleration are all vectors meaning that they have a direction and a magnitude. Distance we covered. Velocity is the change (Δ) distance (r) divided by the amount of time (t) it takes to cover that distance:_ **

In the meantime my emotions had festered while I was attending Cheshmont High last year and my friends had caught on. They believed that my boyfriend problems were based on Percy and not because a complicated pantheon of selfish ungrateful deities expected us to unite Romans and Greeks while saving the world from a deranged Earth goddess and do it their way. Simple mistake.

**_"_ _For those of you who have taken calculus, velocity is the derivative of distance with respect to time:_ **

Honesty I'm not sure which was more confusing, physics or Percy. I was thinking of all this while Percy guided me down the hall behind Shelly. I relaxed at his touch on my shoulders and trusted him to lead me safely to the end of the hall. I knew we were getting close to Kevin and Tristan.

Percy pulled me to a stop and took his hands off my shoulders. I missed the touch but I also understood it was inappropriate in front of Kevin, Shelly, and Tristan, not to mention the rest of the school. I glanced up to quickly acknowledge everyone around me then went back to my book. I was almost done.

**_"Acceleration is the derivative of velocity and the second derivative of distance:_ **

**_Distance is given in units of m, km, ft.... Velocity is given in m/s, km/s, ft/s respectively. And Acceleration is given in_ _m/_ _s_ _2_ _._ **

**_We can rewrite acceleration and velocity to find distance and sum them to find the total distance, which we use to model parabolic motion:_ **

"...Annabeth," I think Kevin was asking something.

I quickly finished the rest of the chapter. Percy covered for me, saying something about how it was impossible to catch my attention when I was studying. He wasn't wrong. I wasn't going to slack, not as a daughter of Athena.

"Okay done," I said. "What was that?"

They were all smiling and covering up snickers. Kevin looked the least amused but he still had a smile.

"What?" I asked pointedly at Percy.

"Nothing," he said, trying not to smile.

"Uh-hu," I said. "Anyway, Kevin this is Percy Jackson. Percy, Kevin Smith."

They all burst into uncontrollable laughter. I was getting a little annoyed.

"What?" I demanded.

"Nothing!" Shelly managed while gasping for air. They all laughed harder. I deepened my expression to a glare pointed at Percy. He noticed and wrapped up his laughter, not without having the nerve to smirk at me, and that sobered everyone else up.

"Want to explain now?" I asked after they calmed down.

"Not particularly," Percy said. I had him pegged at twelve, he was annoying.

"Okay Jackson," Shelly said. "That was spot on but I think we should move outside."

"You and I are going to have a talk later that you aren't going to like," I said to Percy shoving my book playfully into his stomach. He held onto it, shrugging. I wasn't going to get that back for a while.

"So, I hear you're from New York, Percy," Kevin said. "What's it like? What part?"

It wasn't like Kevin to initiate a conversation. He must really want to learn about Percy. I wasn't surprised, considering his slight crush on me. I liked him as a friend and didn't mind spending time with him but I wasn't interested passed that. I felt bad about it but I also knew he would get over it fairly quickly. Besides, my life was too complicated for him.

The rest of lunch was dedicated towards everyone getting to know each other. Everyone got along fairly well. I could tell Kevin was having a hard time accepting Percy but was putting an honest effort in to get along. I appreciated it and figured it would take time. I tried to send Kevin thankful looks.

I found myself reflecting why I was friends with Tristan, Shelly, and Kevin. For all intents and purposes I shouldn't be. I could go through school without making friends and that's usually how I had preferred it. I mean, Percy and I were demigods, it wasn't like we could ever get close enough to them to have honest and meaningful relationships. They led such different lives. They couldn't understand almost dying and being called upon by gods to alter the world. From my perspective their problems were petty. Compared to my friends at Camp Half-blood and Camp Jupiter, who I went to war with, mortal friendship seemed pointless and hardly noteworthy. I wasn't even sure we really were friends. That's why I'd never bothered bringing them up to Percy. I wasn't expecting the friendships to last. What was the point?

Looking back on my friendship with the three of them, however, I was glad I was friends with them. I guess you could say they were refreshing. They talked to me as if they knew they would see me tomorrow. As a demigod you get used to saying daily goodbyes like a final farewell on account that you didn't know if they or you would survive to see each other again. It was nice that I could expect that I would see them tomorrow. It was nice to have friends with petty problems too to a degree. I mean Percy being a jerk was not great but it wasn't world ending, and I would know. They cared about me, which was also nice. Most importantly, they were a reminder of what I had sacrificed so much to protect.

I didn't expect our friendships to last but I was also glad that I had them nonetheless. I was strangely invested in Percy getting along with them. I wanted us to stay friends, even if they could never know about me or Percy.


	6. Percy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter gets a little complicated. Feel free to leave a comment if you didn't understand it so I can change it. (This is my first time writing and I'm not sure I conveyed the points I was trying to get across).
> 
> This chapter also deals with Camp Jupiter's politics. I want to make it clear that I didn't write this based on any political group, party, or person (unless you count Ancient Rome). Comments are welcome and encouraged but please keep real life politics out of it.

**Percy:**

The day was long. Way too long.

I had a hard time finding my classes and I talked to a total of three teachers. I didn’t have any classes with Annabeth and some kids from the chess-club gave me funny looks (please don’t be monsters).

On the plus side I did meet Annabeth’s friends. I was surprised she had mortal friends aside from Rachel. I didn’t have many mortal friends either as being a demigod made it difficult to hang out. They were good people. I was thinking I could get along with them. Speaking of which, my last class was with Kevin. I don’t know why, but there was tension between the two of us. He was nice to me, but it was like every time I said something I had disappointed him. I just wish I understood why. We didn’t talk a lot after lunch.

I was getting pretty antsy by the end of my last class. I had tried to focus on school throughout the day but it was so close to being done and I couldn’t wait anymore. Annabeth and I were headed to New Rome after school.

After the Second Giant War we were trying to set up a stable relationship between Camp Half-blood, the Greek camp, and Camp Jupiter, the Roman camp. Last summer Annabeth recovered the Athena Parthenos in Rome and it was returned to Camp Half-blood by our good friend Reyna who is the Praetor of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata. That healed the rift between the Greek and Roman sides. Still, there was more than 2000 years of warring history between the two factions, some of it recently.

Over the summer a Greek flying trireme had fired on Camp Jupiter. Leo had been possessed but the Twelfth Legion wasn’t too sympathetic. After that, Camp Jupiter marched on Camp Half-blood. We barely made it in time to stop them from annihilating each other. Long story short, we expected there to be some bad blood. Annabeth and I were headed over to New Rome after school to discuss with Frank and Reyna, the current Praetors, where both camps stood on making nice.

So far Camp Half-blood had housed the Roman demigods after the war but no Greek demigods had been to Camp Jupiter ever since we blew it up. Annabeth and I were going to be the first Greeks to visit in almost four months under diplomatic reasons. Reyna and Frank were going to explain the problems they had experienced while trying to introduce the idea of nice Greeks to a bunch of angry Roman soldiers. I was excited, I hoped nobody would try to kill us.

The bell rang and Kevin and I were out of there. I guess he didn’t like that class. I waited by Annabeth’s locker. She took her time getting out of class.

“Well that was fast, Seaweed Brain,” she said walking up to her locker and giving me a quick kiss. “I guess you're excited.”

She looked awesome. Her blond hair was pulled back into a messy but elegant ponytail. Her gray eyes were stormy. She wore a matching gray shirt, jeans, and a leather cord with ten multi-colored beads, a college ring, and a red coral pendant strung around her neck. I, of course, was wearing a similar necklace with five beads. I was pretty proud of the piece of jewelry as it signified I had survived five years as a demigod.

“Still, you managed to make it through the whole day,” she continued, opening her locker and began shuffling through books and papers and choosing what to put in her bag. “Nothing’s on fire, everything is in one piece, I’d say you're on a roll today. Perfect for fostering peace with angry Romans.”

“Yeah...” I said, hoping it wasn’t going to be as complicated as I thought. “Are you ready yet?”

Annabeth laughed, “Calm down Percy.”

“Yeah but I want to show you around New Rome,” I said. “ _I_ want to see the rest of New Rome.”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at me.

“...with you!” I quickly added, trying to dodge the boyfriend danger zone. She nodded like I gave her an acceptable answer and went back to her locker. I breasted easy again.

“What’s New Rome?” I nearly jumped out of my skin.

Tristan had walked up behind me and I didn’t even notice him which is impressive considering how big he was. I did notice he had a large bag that smelled suspiciously of used sport equipment.

“It’s a pizza place,” Annabeth said without blinking an eye.

“I figure you were going to head out soon like usual,” Tristan said, thankfully dropping our topic on Roman pizza (btw I would _not_ recommend genuine Rome, Italy pizza as you will be disappointed). “Figured I would say goodbye to you guys. It was nice meeting you Percy.”

“Nice to meet you too,” I said.

“Bye,” Annabeth said.

With that he walked off, I think to soccer practice. My heart rate slowed again.

“You know mortal friends are weird,” I whispered to Annabeth. “Nice, but weird.”

“I know what you mean,” Annabeth responded, closing her locker. I wasn’t sure she had really heard what I was saying. “Alright let’s go.”

I practically skipped out of school. I was glad to be outside again. Annabeth followed me out with less enthusiasm.

Kevin was waiting with Shelly outside. Shelly ran up to greet me and Annabeth. Kevin followed behind her with a frown on his face.

“You two going somewhere?” Shelly inquired. “You can stick around a while.”

“Sorry, but we have to go,” Annabeth said.

“Oh, what are you doing?” Shelly inquired further.

“We promised Annabeth’s brothers we would take them out for pizza,” I blurted out, continuing Annabeth’s lie from before.

“Percy needs to get to know them better,” Annabeth added, catching on.

“Really?” Kevin asked, his frown deepening.

“Well, could we come along?” Shelly pushed. “I’d love to get to know our new friend here better.”

I was touched.

“Sorry Shelly, but it’s best if it’s just us this time,” Annabeth said.

“Oh well,” Shelly said. “Next time.”

We said our farewells and watched Kevin and Shelly walk through the crowded sidewalk, stopping briefly to apologize for bumping into a teacher on his phone.

“Okay, I’m sure they won’t follow us now,” Annabeth said confidently. “Let’s go.”

We passed the teacher on his phone talking about student investments or something and set off walking down the street.

We had to switch trams three times before we made it to Oakland Hills. I looked out the window most of the ride, taking in the sites. I had been to San Francisco before but it was starting to sink in that this low and green city was my new home. It was a surreal feeling. New York has always been my home, trying to think otherwise was… unnatural. Annabeth kept on guard for monster attacks and, aside from a couple of harmless Dracaena arguing in hissing voices over a crossword puzzle five seats down, our ride was uneventful.

We walked about two miles before we made it to the entrance of Camp Jupiter. Immediately, the two guards on duty ran up to us. Let me tell you, two armored and heavily armed kids charging at you wakes you up fast.

“State who you are,” one of them announced, baring a spear at us. She was very tall with brown eyes, a round face, pale skin, and frizzy blonde short hair poking out from under her helmet.

Her friend was armed with a mace. He stepped up like they had rehearsed, “We won’t let you bring trouble to New Rome!”

He was as tall as his friend with dark skin and discerning eyes. His voice had a heavy African accent.

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. Probably not a parade but definitely not to be threatened before we even got into camp. They knew we were coming and I thought we were on a semi-friendly level. Plus, and I usually didn’t play this card, I had been Praetor. Granted, it was for all of two days and I didn’t attend the camp for more than a week and most of that week I wasn’t even at camp and last time I left most of New Rome was burning. But still, I thought we were cool!

Another camper came running up the hill in full armor. I winced in sympathy. It was a hot day and armor was stuffy and heavy. This guy probably just burned a million calories.

“Don’t… friendly...Greeks… Praetor,” he huffed out doubling over. It took the guards a moment to figure out what the heck he was going on about.

They hesitantly lowered their weapons. I saw another guard jogging up the side of the hill towards his partner. The new guard took another minute to catch his breath and stood up straight to talk to me and Annabeth.

“Sorry about that,” he began. “We weren’t expecting you until later, after we switched the guards.”

He turned to the guards currently on duty. “Would you two lead the Greek dignitaries to the Praetors?”

“Hold on,” the guard with the mace protested, his fellow guard nodding in support. “You can’t just give us orders like that. These people could be dangerous. We should at least restrain them before taking them before the Praetors.”

The replacement guard cringed hard at that. He beckoned the two guards forward and whispered something to them. They immediately straightened up and turned to me and Annabeth.

“W-we are very s-sorry,” the guard with the mace loudly stammered out.

The spear guard chipped in a whimper. I wasn’t used to people being afraid of me and was taken aback.

“No that’s okay,” Annabeth said with a stern voice. “This happens, right. No big deal.”

I figured these guards were new. If we were at Camp Half-blood Annabeth would probably have these soldiers in tears for not being informed and up to date. As a daughter of Athena she put a large emphasis on knowing everything and making sure those under her knew everything. Being a demigod was a matter of life and death for you and everyone counting on you. Annabeth didn't humor unnecessary ignorance. I figured she was being sympathetic because of the circumstances, not that it was saying much. I realized Annabeth was using kindness as a weapon. That might sound mean but it really wasn't considering the circumstances. Not for the first time, I reminded myself _never_ to underestimate Annabeth.

They stiffened even further and I caught a gleam in Annabeth's eye.

“W-we will l-lead you to the Praetors,” they stammered. They were so stiff and nervous that the girl tripped over her armor and the boy apologized to us profusely for it. I felt a little bad for them and, by the looks of it, so did Annabeth. She eased off of them.

“So… I’m Percy and this is Annabeth,” I introduced us as we walked, trying to ease the tension in the atmosphere. “What are your names?”

I think that made them more tense.

“Sarah, sir,” the guard with the spear barked out nervously.

“Akani, sir,” the mace guard followed up, stiff as a board.

Oh geeze. I thought it would be nicer on them to walk in silence and, based on the Annabeth gave me, she agreed.

When we walked into camp we drew a lot of attention. The Legion had barely grown since the last time I saw it. Legionnaires stopped sword practice and marching practice to watch us. They muttered amongst themselves as we walked past. It wasn’t all that different from the first time I arrived at Camp Jupiter.

I caught pieces of conversations.

“...Praetor after one week....”

“... child of Athena...best strategist...”

“...only three have made it out...”

“...water up my nose...”

Sarah and Akani led us to the Principia where Frank and/or Reyna would be. They looked stiff and nervous leading us in but also proud.

The Principia was the same as I remembered it aside from the addition of some angry Romans. Reyna was inside with a centurion in an intense discussion. Frank was no where in sight but Reyna’s gold and silver dogs were close by, eyeing the centurion.

When we walked in the argument abruptly ended as Reyna’s eyes flashed in our direction. Her regal features didn’t betray any emotions as usual. The centurion, on the other hand, shot a distinct glare in our direction when he followed Reyna’s gaze. The glare dissolved into a snake like smile.

“Perhaps it’s best to entertain your guests _Praetor_ Reyna,” he said with disdain. “Graecus require attention too.”

He saluted to Reyna on his way out.

“Guards,” Reyna said sternly. Sarah and Akani jumped when they realized they were being addressed. “You are excused.”

Sarah and Akani saluted stiffly, turned, and left. As soon as they were gone I was ready to start asking the hundred questions that had popped into my head. Before I could Reyna said, “Felicity, you too.”

I was surprised when a small girl emerged from the behind a curtain in the corner. I had no idea she was there. Her movements were silent and she didn’t attract much attention. She gave me and Annabeth an inquisitive look before slipping outside.

With just the three of us alone in the Principia Reyna’s façade cracked a little. She practically growled and stormed over to one of the twin Praetor chairs. She plopped down, propped her elbow up, and rested her forehead in her hand.

“I take it things aren’t going all that well,” Annabeth inquired, which I thought summed it up pretty well given Reyna’s reaction.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Reyna snapped in irritation. “Sorry, it’s… we’re having problems with… we’ll call it demigod relations.”

“I’m guessing it has to do with us Greeks, right?” I asked. Reyna gave me a small smile.

“Your guess would be right,” she said. “Make yourselves comfortable. This might take a while.” ****

* * *

“I know you two are here just for a fun visit and to talk, but let me be honest, if it wasn’t you two I wouldn’t let any Greeks into camp right now,” Reyna began after we had taken our seats.

I, meanwhile, had found the jellybean bowl and was fishing out the blue ones. Last time I had been here Reyna had held me at knife point and demanded I tell her all about myself. The only problem was I had amnesia so ‘myself’ was a big question mark I had wanted answers to at the time as well. This time if I was going to be interrogated I wanted to know the reason I was in trouble.

That and I really wanted some jellybeans and they were _right_ there.

“Why?” Annabeth asked, getting right to the point. Reyna gave a tired sigh.

“Currently the senate is split with how to deal with our Greek counter part,” Reyna laid out in a serious tone. “Discussions have varied but have included Greek demigod registration, enslavement, and practical eradication.”

My heart skipped a beat on hearing that. Annabeth took the jellybean bowl, momentarily forgotten in my hands, and grabbed a handful for stress eating purposes.

“I knew things weren’t great but I didn’t think it was that bad,” Annabeth said which I had to agree with. Reyna nodded grimly.

“Octavian might have died but his influence is still prominent in the Senate,” Reyna said.

“Okay, so Octavian's old buddies in the senate want to kill off all the Greeks like Octavian, right?” I asked, sure I was right.

“Actually, no. It’s the opposite,” Renay said. I might have felt bad about getting it wrong but I was use to it and Annabeth looked as confused as I was, which didn’t happen often.

“As you said, Octavian had many high official supporters who have become quite active since his death. Perhaps in private they believe it is our duty as Romans to finish what we started and raze Camp Half-blood to the ground. However, Greek demigod sympathies sky-rocketed amongst the legion after the Athena Parthenon was returned and the war ended. Octavian’s supporters were probably going to be voted out by the next election.”

“So what happened,” Annabeth asked, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Reyna paused, probably looking for the best way to explain what I was starting to understand was going to be a very complicated explanation.

“The same thing that happened before: Octavian.”

Octavian was not my favorite. Last summer he self appointed himself the all powerful Pontifex Maximus during Reyna’s absence due to transporting the Athena Parthenon. In his new found power he made it his mission to destroy Camp Half-blood and rid the world of Greek demigods, Annabeth and myself counted among them. He ended up dying when he catapulted himself at Gaea, for which he has been hailed as the hero. He was power hungry and manipulative and threatened many of my friends. So, yeah, not my favorite Roman.

“I’m sorry, could you explain how _Octavian_ is getting so much support,” I scoffed. “You know, seeing as he’s _dead._ ”

“Octavian over the past few months has become a martyr amongst those in the legion. Stories have been spread about how he sacrificed himself to destroy Gaea. Many of his officers have argued, moving with the current political agenda, that Octavian realized his mistake of making enemies with you Greeks and died, in part, to make amends.”

I snored. Octavian had thrived off of conflicts with Greeks. I was exactly the kind of Greek demigod Octavian would have loved to see blamed for anything, all to gain some power for himself. He often brought my loyalty to Camp Jupiter into question because I am a Greek. I had heard the story from Nico about Octavian’s death and I was pretty sure that he wasn’t repenting anything. It was disturbing to think that Octavian was going to be immortalized as someone dedicated to Rome and not their own selfish greed.

“So if Octavian’s supporters are ‘ _supposedly’_ pro-Greek demigods, what are they saying?” Annabeth asked, using air quotes.

“That isn’t a very easy question to answer. Allow me to to start at the beginning,” I knew Reyna wasn’t asking for permission. “At first Octavian’s supporters were accepting of the Greeks. They would say things like ‘Greeks are demigods just like us’ and ‘Rome will be better off with such powerful allies.’ I, naively, thought they had miraculously warmed up to the idea of Greeks because the Athena Parthenon was returned and the rift between the two camps had healed. At the time, I assumed they were going to react negatively towards Greeks, given the history of war between Greeks and Romans.”

Annabeth interjected. “There are millennia of Greeks and Romans fighting each other. Not to mention that the last time Greeks visited Camp Jupiter, New Rome was burning. Soon after, Camp Jupiter sent an army to march on Camp Half-blood. And that happened, like, four months ago.”

Reyna nodded grimly. “Returning the Athena Parthenon righted the vendetta Athena’s had on the Romans, but many, even now, can’t accept us returning a Greek statue as a reason to make peace with Camp Half-blood. Rumors are spreading in the cohorts. Many soldiers are angry that we did not finish what we started after Roman blood was spilt.”

“That would be a pretty unsatisfying reason after being dragged across the country on Octavian’s anti-Greek crusade,” I added. I remembered the jellybean bowl, which Annabeth had returned, and started shuffling for blue ones again. "I thought you said that Greek sympathy was rising in the legion?"

"Public Greek reception rose in the legion and New Rome but people have a tendency to agree with the mob in public. In private many, but not all, of the legionnaires are furious with Greeks," Reyna explained. "I only know because I have a spy working to listen in on those types of talks."

“When the Romans I was certain were going to be anti-Greek in the Senate ended up sympathizing with the Greeks I was relieved,” Reyna continued while looking ashamed. “Octavian’s old supporters continued talking the Greeks up. They made a huge fuss about how powerful a single Greek demigod was. They kept bringing up that integrating Greeks into the legion would make us much stronger. That’s about the time I started having doubts again.”

“Oh, no,” Annabeth said. She usually figured these things out quickly. I meanwhile was going to have to wait for Reyna to finish her explanation.

Reyna nodded, “Recently, discontent for Greeks has sky rocketed amongst the cohorts, in private of course. Octavian’s supporters didn’t waste a single example. Instances at Camp Half-blood, the fact that Greek demigods don't have to worry about being attacked with the barrier you have, the seven, and you, Percy, are their favorite.”

“Wait, what? Why?” I thought they hated me. I jumped over them and Octavian when it came to promotions, both figuratively and literally when it came to War Games.

Annabeth rolled her eyes before offering her explanation, “You are the only documented Greek demigod to be accepted into a Roman Legion, much less achieve the position Praetor, much less achieve that position in a week after retrieving the Eagle of the Twelfth Legion which had been lost since Michael Varus tried to fulfill the Prophesy Seven, which I might remind you, you were successfully apart of. I wouldn’t be surprised if they made you the poster child of Greek demigods. If they wanted Greek demigods to look big, bad, and powerful then you are their favorite.”

“You realize most of that was luck, right?” I argued, “right time, right place, right circumstances. I’m sure Hera was in control of a lot of what happened. Most of it had nothing to do with me being a big, bad, and powerful Greek.”

“Even so, it happened,” Annabeth interjected. “It doesn’t really matter how it happened so long as it happened. And if you take it out of context Percy is practically a god to the legion.”

She smiled to herself as if remembering a funny story.

“Exactly,” Reyna confirmed again. “They wanted Greek demigods to be larger than life.”

I put my hands up in a time out signal, totally lost. “I’m sorry, but why? What does making Greeks look powerful and helpful have to do with Octavian’s supporters destroying Greeks? Seems counter productive to me. And besides Frank and Hazel are super powerful and they are Roman.”

“Yes, well, as far as Frank and Hazel go they are unusually powerful for Roman soldiers. Much of that is being blamed on spending so much time with Greeks and learning from them,” Reyna explained. “As for your first point,” Reyna tapped her nose to signal I had gotten the right answer, “That’s the tricky part.”

Luckily, Annabeth offered an explanation, “Percy, when people have something you want but can’t have what do you feel?”

“Jealous, I guess.”

“And what do you think someone who is greedy enough would do if they can’t have what you have?” Annabeth continued.

“They’d steal it."

“Roman demigods emphasize teamwork and organization. Nobody can make an army and run it like the Romans. You would have to be very stupid to attack even a small cohort with little training for that very reason. On the other hand, Greeks are disorganized and a general mess but make up for it by individual training and a hard focus on solo heroism. Because of that Greek demigods are, on average, much more powerful on an individual level than Roman demigods.” Annabeth explained. “I doubt that many in the legion are happy about that little fact, and I think I know what comes next.”

Reyna nodded.

I was lost again and displayed it on my face. Annabeth smirked at me, “You never did learn history. Perhaps it would be best if Reyna explains.”

“Probably,” Reyna grumbled before taking a deep breath. “Historically, when Rome wanted something they would invade the surrounding land, conquer it, and either assimilated the population as lesser Romans or enslave them. New Rome is fashioned after Ancient Rome to a certain degree.”

“Are you saying that Octavian’s supporters have made Camp Jupiter so jealous of Greek demigods that they want to enslave us in the name of Rome?” I asked.

“Exactly.”

“Oh,” I said. “Uncool.”

Reyna nodded, “Well at least that’s what Frank and I think Octavian’s supporters are trying to do. From here on it is mostly speculation and rumor.”

Reyna took a deep breath before continuing, “Modern Roman demigods condone slavery generally and aren’t as conquest bound as Ancient Rome. It would be very insulting to insinuate that New Rome is anything like old Rome in that respect. I doubt that a vote will even be put into question about if we should conquer Camp Half-blood, much less the vote passing. But, greed is still a very powerful tool.”

“So, how have Octavian’s supporters been using this tool?” Annabeth pressed.

“So far they haven’t. Officially they continue to bolster Greek reputation and compare them the Roman soldiers. Unofficially, there have been rumors going around the cohorts, making them more and more displeased with Greeks, and talks about how we are going to deal with Greek demigods, no doubt spread by Octavian’s supporters,” Reyna began. “The rumors vary but many include wanting to make Greeks pseudo-New Roman citizens. Worst case, that may include spending the required ten years spent in the legion in addition the years spent at Camp Half-blood, limitations on how high a non-Roman can be promoted, registration of Greek demigods, limitations in voting, and a quota for the number of Greeks that must be present in the legion, to be provided by Camp Half-blood.”

“Wow, that deal … sucks,” I wasn’t sure how else to put it.

“They knew what they were doing,” Annabeth said. “And hypothetically, what we would we be getting?”

“In exchange, worst case scenario, you would be free to the devices of New Rome after ten years of service, such as the college, have the glory of serving the Legion, and have the highest merits within the cohorts.”

“That sucks less...”

“With higher merits you are expected and placed in the most dangerous jobs, like quests,” Reyna continued.

“Hard pass.”

“In the event that these, uh, proposals are voted on in the senate at some point how do you expect to force Greek demigods to serve in the Roman army?” Annabeth inquired.

“Unfortunately for you, I am still a Roman official and am sworn to uphold the best course of action for Rome. I have probably told you more than I should have already. I can’t tell you what would happen if the Camp Half-blood didn’t offer demigods,” Reyna said. I understood that she followed the rules but it was still annoying. “That being said it wouldn’t be good, probably for both camps.”

Annabeth frowned hard. She hated not knowing, no matter how much she understood Reyna’s position an loyalty to Camp Jupiter.

“So, why don’t you want Greeks in the camp right now?” I asked. “It would be a good idea to allow the cohorts to get to know us, learn that we aren’t all powerful and are really nice.”

I thought about Clarisse La Rue, the camp bully, and Drew Tenaka, a scheming piranha, popped into my head as I said that.

“Most of us are really nice,” I corrected.

“Simply put, I can’t guarantee a Greek demigod's safety at Camp Jupiter,” Reyna explained. “And that’s talking demigod safety margin into account. To summarize what we were talking about, the senate is favorable to Greek demigods but most of the legion absolutely hates you right now. I’m certain that any Greek demigod who visited would meet with some ‘accidental’ or purposeful ill-fate. You two, on the other hand, have some history with the legion, a lot of respect through the stories people have heard of you as members of the seven and the Second Titan War, and I can trust you.”

“Uh, okay,” Annabeth said.

“That, and if anyone was stupid enough to mess you, especially after hearing all those stories, I imagine they wouldn’t even be able to run away properly after challenging you two.”

“There it is,” Annabeth smiled, proud of how intimating she could be. I, on the other hand, didn’t like what Reyna was insinuating. I wasn’t that scary or dangerous, right?

“I think that’s enough for today,” Reyna said and stood up. “For now, we will see what your little visit here today does for the legion.”

“You're going to have to get the legion use to Greek demigods at some point,” Annabeth said, also standing. “If not, everything we have been through up until now will have been pointless.”

I placed the mostly empty jellybean bowl back on the table and felt like I had gotten away with a crime since Reyna didn’t seem to care.

“I know,” Reyna said, looking worried. “I just wonder what else we might have to go through before real peace is implemented between our two camps.”

On that slightly depressing note, Annabeth and I were given the go ahead to explore New Rome granted we kept our heads on a swivel. We left Reyna to do whatever Praetor work she had to do and went to find visit with some friends in the fifth cohort.

The legionnaires talked about us in hushed whispers as we passed. Some gave us looks of distaste while others stared at us with intense admiration. I didn’t know if they were expecting some kind of performance so I followed Annabeth’s lead and tried to look like I was minding my own business. Well, Annabeth also looked like she might stab you if you dared talk to her. I tried to look a little more friendly.

Annabeth and I found Hazel working on drills with the fifth cohort along with Dakota, Hazel’s fellow centurion. The fifth cohort cheered when we arrived. It probably had something to do with them being my cohort. I introduced Annabeth to Dakota who responded by drinking some more cool-aid and stumbling off. He was a nice enough guy but was always sort-of drunk on cool-aid.

Hazel, Annabeth, and I all hugged and started catching up on life. Hazel told us that the fifth cohort was no longer cursed and had helped win the last three war games. Back when I had joined the other cohorts considered the fifth cursed after Michael Varus had lost the Eagle of the Twelfth Legion and most of the camps weapons on a failed expedition to Hubbard Glacier. They got the worst jobs and usually were the loosing cohort during War Games. Hazel said that it was because the Eagle had been returned but I suspected that she had played a part in whipping the fifth into shape.

Our chat was cut short when Dakota stumbled into the back of the cohort and sent a small army of demigods and legacies falling down like a set of dominoes. Annabeth and I left Hazel to sort that out.

We didn’t end up finding Frank so we headed to New Roman after we said hi to Mrs. O'leary. It was a hot day but we talked most of the walk there. We spent a couple of hours wandering the streets of New Rome. Annabeth would remark on the architecture and say that she knew exactly where on Mt. Olympus an arch or a buttress would fit perfectly. We talked about New Rome and what the next year was going to look like with me in San Francisco. We bought some drinks at a coffee shop Frank and Hazel had shown me and Annabeth took me to a garden Reyna had taken her to. It was a large beautiful garden that overlooked New Rome. I laughed at a statue of Dionysus (sorry ,Bacchus), I have seen both in real life and neither are that fit.

We stayed there for about an hour, enjoying each others company in silence while laying on the grass, and forgot about being demigods and Romans and Greeks and the terrors of our past. Annabeth helped me up when it was time to head back to Annabeth’s house. We saw Sarah and Akani joking and laughing with the rest of their cohort while they were eating dinner. They seemed to be regaling the story of their guard duty with excitement.

We were less vigilant on the track ride back. Annabeth put her head on my shoulder and I put my head on top of hers and closed we closed our eyes for most of the ride. Before I knew it and four track changes later we were walking down the street hand and hand.

We reached her house and went inside. Mrs. Chase welcomed us in with a small smile which seemed a little strained. It was late and most of her family was already asleep. I went to my room and plopped down on the bed, glad to be in my new home. 

Everything seemed so peaceful, almost like the calm before a storm. I started falling asleep but right before I did I remembered I had make-up homework. I groaned and wondered if it was too late to ask Annabeth for help.

**Author's Note:**

> The story looks like a cliché 'Percy goes to Annabeth's school' at first but it really isn't. I do, in fact, have an idea for where this story is going and I haven't seen another fanfic use this idea. I am going to try to make my characters believable and three dimensional.
> 
> I'm writing a story for the sake of writing a fun (little complex) story so you won't see much if any adult content. I just want to see more of Percy and Annabeth dealing with their demigod problems and, for fun, I decided to take a look while they are in school.
> 
> Cannon relationships, but they are going to be modest so, no, Percy and Annabeth are not going to be making out every other paragraph. More like they have cute moments together like in the books.
> 
> Annabeth and Percy are the main characters along with my own characters but I plan for Nico, Reyna, and so on to make appearances.
> 
> Lastly, I will update as best I can but keep in mind I am in school and it can be... intense, as many of you know.
> 
> I hope you enjoy and take it easy on me, this is my first time writing fiction.


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